Galaxy School - Nepal

History of the scholarship program. Catherine Wood met 10-year-old Samip during her first trip to Nepal in 2000. He was a bright boy who liked ice cream, cauliflower, rabbits, and the color sky blue, but he was nearing the end of his free public education. His future looked bleak because his family could not afford to pay for his education beyond Grade 6. Catherine was immensely taken with Samip and impressed with his curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. She sought a way to help him get a good education and the prospect for a better life.

Catherine set out to find a private school for Samip. She discovered that Galaxy School was the premier among all the private institutions in Kathmandu. Founded by Geeta Rana in 1986 with just nine students and two teachers, Galaxy School is now one of the largest and most prestigious schools in Kathmandu with about 4,000 students and 460 teachers and staff. Catherine spent three days visiting the school, meeting with teachers, interviewing students, observing classes, and talking with Geeta. It is Geeta's educational philosophy, evident everywhere at Galaxy, that ultimately sold Catherine.

Here's what Geeta has to say about education at her school:

"My aim is to provide an all around education in which children are prepared to face any crisis in life with moral dignity and to become useful and loyal citizens of the country. Galaxy seeks to prepare a student not merely to pass examinations or enter a profession, but also aims at creating a tolerant, balanced, independent individual with the right attitude of mind and spirit and a desire to help others. Its special characteristic is the wide range of activities that it provides with the idea of developing a full personality and to bring out the talents of the students for their own benefit and that of society as a whole. Galaxy School is dedicated to the principle that the future of humanity rests in the hands, hearts and minds of those who will accept responsibility for themselves and others in an increasingly diverse society. This principle of individual and social responsibility is realized in the context of a distinctive comprehensive experience which nurtures in our students the emergence and development of skill, perspectives and ethics necessary to better themselves and society."

"Oh, didi [big sister], my future is bright!" -- 10-year-old Samip, upon learning that he could go to Galaxy School

Catherine decided that Galaxy School would be the best place for Samip. She met with Samip's parents and offered to send their son to Galaxy School through Class 12. The family was thrilled, and so was Samip. As his first act of assuming responsibility for his own education, Samip signed a "Moral Contract" with Catherine formalizing their expectations. In return for Catherine's promise to pay for his education, Samip promised (1) to work hard to get good grades, (2) never in his life to beat a girl or a woman, and (3) when he has completed Grade 12, to do his very best to help a young Nepali girl get an education in the same way that he has been helped.

Samip enrolled at Galaxy School in April of 2001. He has done extremely well, achieving excellent grades and test scores. The school provides Bright Futures Foundation with regular progress reports. Samip writes a postcard to Catherine every month telling her of his life at school, and he sends her emails every now and then.

Friends, family and acquaintances learned about Catherine's novel approach to helping Samip and have chosen to help other children go to Galaxy School with scholarships through Bright Futures Foundation. At this time, there are 18 Bright Futures scholars attending Galaxy School. All of the students have signed contracts similar to Samip's, and all of the students write monthly postcards to their sponsors. Galaxy School provides us with each student's progress reports. We monitor our students' achievements closely, and are very involved in their education.

How the scholarship program works. We have developed an application and screening process by which future scholarship recipients will be selected. Included is the Raven Test which determines intellectual ability utilizing a non-verbal format. It is useful for international applications because it does not require that the test-taker understand English. We have devised a set of definitive criteria by which a prospective scholar's application is evaluated. Our selection process also includes interviews with the child and family by our intern Keshav and our oldest student Samip. We ask the principals of Shree Saraswati Higher Secondary School and Shram Rastriya Public School (the school near Bhotechaur Health Clinic and the public school in Kathmandu) to recommend candidates from their schools to be considered in the selection process.

It is important to us that Bright Futures scholars have the desire to get the best education possible and to remain in their own country. In that way, we hope to educate the future leaders of Nepal.

Keshav Thapa, our intern in Kathmandu, goes to Galaxy School at least twice a month to meet with our students. They all gather together to share their experiences and to write their monthly postcards. The Bright Futures scholars have become close friends, helping one another and having fun. Keshav also meets periodically with Geeta Rana and the teaching staff at Galaxy. In that way, we are well able to track how our students are performing.

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